Effects Of REM Sleep Deprivation On Brain Serotonin Transporter And Norepinephrine Transporter In Rats Treated With Chronic Stress

Background and Objective: Depression is one of the most common mental illnesses, with the characteristic of recurrent attacks and suicidal tendency. Antidepressant drugs need to be administered for several weeks before a therapeutic response is achieved. However, Sleep deprivation exerts antidepressant effects after only one night of deprivation, which suggests that the rapid antidepressant response is possible. The studies show that sleep deprivation and other antidepressant treatments (such as SSRIs and ECT) cause similar molecular changes in the serotonin (5-HT) system and the norepinephrine (NE) system. Serotonin transporter (SERT) and norepinephrine transporter (NET) locate in the nerve presynaptic membrane. They are responsible for terminating the action of 5-HT and NE in the synapse. So they are important in controlling extracellular concentration of neurotransmitters. The studies show that changes in the levels of SERT and NET in the brain might be associated with the etiology and the antidepressant mechanism. This study is designed to investigate the effects of REM (rapid eye movement) sleep deprivation (REMSD) on depressive-behaviors and brain SERT and NET in rats treated with chronic mild unpredicted stresses, to aim at discussing the fasting antidepressant mechanism of sleep deprivation.Materials and Methods: Male Sprague-Dawley rats, with the body weight ranged from 190g to 210g, were divided into six groups randomly: (1) normal control group; (2) chronic stress group; (3) 72 hours REM sleep deprivation group; (4) tank control group; (5) 72 hours REM sleep deprivation and 48 hours recovering sleep group; (6) tank control rats and 48 hours recovering sleep group. Rats in chronic stress group were exposed to unpredicted mild stressors for 21 consecutive days. REM sleep deprivation was performed by flowerpot technique. An open field test was repeated four times to evaluate the depressive-behavior during the experiment. The expression of mRNA coding for SERT and NET in midbrain, pons, frontal cortex, hippocampus and hypothalamus was assayed by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The data...